ADELEKE DEFENDS SITING OF OSUN AIRPORT IN HOMETOWN

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By ‘Sefiu Ajape

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has defended the decision to site the proposed Ede International Airport in his hometown, arguing that his position as governor does not require him to abandon his community.

Adeleke spoke on Tuesday at a town hall meeting organised by Arise Television for candidates contesting Saturday’s Osun governorship election.

The governor, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the Accord Party, was responding to questions surrounding the controversial airport project, which has faced criticism from opposition parties over its location and rising cost.

Defending the choice of Ede, Adeleke said he would not neglect his hometown simply because he occupies the governorship position.

“I wish my town to be small London. So because I’m a governor, I should abandon my own town? Go and fact-check it. I just told you I just came back from Ife. Am I from Ife? I’m from Ede,” he said.

The governor listed several towns across Osun where his administration had executed projects, insisting that his focus on Ede had not come at the expense of other communities.

“Am I from Ila? They have never done any dualised road in Ila. Am I from Bongo? Am I from Ikire? Am I from Iwo? Am I from Ilesa? Even all the towns in Osun, do I have a flyover in Ede? No. But I cannot be fixing other towns alone and abandon mine. I’m not a bastard. I will fix my town too,” Adeleke said.

Addressing concerns over the airport project, Adeleke explained that Osun currently has no functional airport, describing the existing facility as an airdrome that his predecessor had handed over to the Nigerian Air Force for training purposes.

“It’s not my fault. When we’re about to build this airport, I said this is not acceptable. In the South-West, we are the only state without an airport. So I invited experts to go and look for a suitable site,” he said.

According to Adeleke, experts deployed to identify a suitable location eventually settled on Ede, adding that the decision was similar to the location of the airport in Ogun State.

“They went around, and they ended up in Ede. Go to Ogun State; the airport is on farmland in Abeokuta. It’s the same thing. There’s nothing I can do about that,” he said.

The Ede airport project, initially awarded at N99.5bn, has attracted criticism from the All Progressives Congress and the Allied Peoples Movement, whose governorship candidates have questioned the contractor’s technical capacity and the rising cost of the project, now reportedly exceeding N130bn.

The APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, alleged that the contract was awarded to a company with a background in interior decoration rather than aviation infrastructure, while the APM called on the Adeleke administration to upgrade the existing airstrip at Ido-Osun instead.

Adeleke is seeking a second term against Oyebamiji and other candidates in Saturday’s governorship election.